IDNO

P.97025.WIL

Description

On Cech’s list describing prints:
“(58-135 where taken in Lhasa.)
105. “Sha-pes and Chik-yap khenpo at Dekyi-lingka; Trimön Sha-pe, Kalön Lama, Chik-yap Khenpo, Lang-chung sha-pe”
See ww: Trimön Sha-pe, Kalön Lama, Chik-yap Khenpo, Lang-chung sha-pe” [printed text]
For more information see Cech’s list.

A formal group portrait taken in the garden of Dekyilingka. From left to right sit Trimon Sha-pe, Kalon lama, Chik-yap Khenpo, and Lang-chung Sha-pe. All four officials are looking at the camera.

Trimon Sha-pe, Kalon lama and Lang-chung Sha-pe were members of the Kashag. Trimon Sha-pe and Lang-chung Sha-pe were lay officials and so wear the formal aristocratic dress consisting oflong broadcloth robes held in at the waist with sashes, and a long earring in the left ear. They wear their hair parted in the middle and arranged in two plaits brought up to the crown of the head and tied in a double top-knot with a red ribbon. The Kalon Lama was an ecclesiastical official and so wears monks robes, as does Chik-yak Khenpo who was the supreme head of the ecclesiastical organisation in Tibet.

Place

C Asia; Tibet; Lhasa; Dekyi Lingka

Cultural Affliation

Named Person

Trimön Sha-pe; Kalön Lama; Chik-yap Khenpo; Lang-chung sha-pe

Photographer

Williamson, Frederick

Collector / Expedition

Date

3 September 1933

Collection Name

Williamson Collection

Source

Williamson, Margaret

Format

Print Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

Other Numbers: This photograph previously was numbered 105, as it is in the album. However due to the fact that there is un-numbered photograph in the album of the same scene, it has been decided to renumber this photograph as 105a, and to call the un-numbered photograph 105b. [CJ 27/8/2008]

Transcription: The transcription of this album by Mark Turin and Sara Shneiderman was carried out with reference to Krystina Cech’s catalogue list alone. Alex Nadin has since revised their cataloguing by systematically matching their records to the images. Margaret Williamson’s handwritten captions for photographs have now been transcribed into the Inscription field, and Cech’s descriptions appear in the Description field. Correct entries for Place, Named Person and Other Nos. have also been entered by Alex Nadin. [Sudeshna Guha 29/10/2002]

Biographical Information: For further information on Trimon Sha-pe see the Biographies File. [CJ 27/8/2008]

Biographical Information: For further information on Kalon lama see the Biographies File. [CJ 27/8/2008]

Biographical Information: For further information on Chik-yap Khenpo see the Biographies File. [CJ 27/8/2008]

Biographical Information: For further information on Lang-chung Sha-pe see the Biographies File. [CJ 27/8/2008]

Male dress: “Senior officials [of the] third and fourth rank ... were allowed to wear silk garments usually of a saffron-yellow colour with an interwoven dragon pattern. The robe was held in at the waist by a scarlet sash. Like all Tibetan robes it folded across the chest and was fastened by small gilt buttons under the right arm and down the right side. The sleeves were cut very long. A long earring was worn in the left ear and a wide brimmed gold brocade hat with coral and turquoise insignia on the top. From this ornament red tasselling hung down as far as the brim, while from this two further strips of braid, united in a jewelled clasp, hung over the shoulders. Junior officials [of the] fifth, sixth and seventh ranks ... wore long broadcloth robes of an indigo colour held in at the waist with red and yellow sashes, from the back of which hung small holders with chopsticks, jade-handled knives, pockets and other knick-knacks. Secretaries had pen cases pushed into their sashes. Flat-topped hats of yellow wool were balanced like basins on top of their heads. Although looking quite precarious, they were actually clipped securely over the top-knot of hair. All the males of all ranks of the aristocracy wore their hair parted in the middle and arranged in two plaits brought up to the crown of the head and tied in a double top-knot with a red ribbon. However, only nobles of third and fourth rank and the sons of a few of the noble families who were in government service, could wear the turquoise and gold charm box on top of their heads. As for the long turquoise and gold earring, it was worn by officials of any standing . [Source: Cech’s list, CJ 26/8/2008]

Place: Dekyilingka - “The house in Lhasa lent to the British Mission by Kundeling monastery served as the headquarters of the 1936 British Mission to Lhasa. Dekyilingka translates as the 'Happy Garden'.” [Source: The Tibet Album, http://tibet.prm.ox.ac.uk/glossary.php#Shol, JD 14/5/2008]

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Caspian James 27/8/2008]